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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Gee's Bend Mini Quilts

January was a good, good month for mini quilt swapping! In the 6-12" Mini Quilt Swap group over on Flickr, the challenge for the month was to design a quilt inspired by the Quilts of Gee's Bend. I was so excited to hear that this was the theme, since I've been itching to push myself more in that direction ... and, despite my New Year's resolution to try to curb my growing swap addiction (at least a little bit), I just HAD to sign up for this one.

I knew from the start that I wanted to work with solids and, after browsing through the inspiration quilts, I quickly decided to make something in the spirit of this, this, and this. I decided on a main color pallette of khaki, mustard, deep chocolate brown, army fatigue green and unbleached muslin, with some red accents. Then I decided to make one block completely different (blues and pinks), to give the feeling that maybe it was leftover from another quilt and used here to patch a hole.

Overall, I was thrilled with how it came out. This was definitely one of the hardest things I've made to part with, but I have enough strips of fabric already cut out to recreate it for myself. One of these days ... ! The best consolation is knowing that it will have a happy home in Oregon with Jessica (jmbmommy).

Speaking of Jessica, take a look at the Gee's Bend treasure I received from her:

Isn't it the coolest?? I just love how we both started with the same theme, but the two quilts went in different directions ... both in terms of color and style. The colors Jessica chose are AMAZING ... so much brighter and vibrant than my pictures show.

As hard as it was for me to send mine away, it was all worth it to be able to call this one my own. I can't believe how many awesome mini quilts I've collected already -- I am really itching to get my quilt wall set up and get them all hung. I still haven't decided how I want to hang them ....

And because quilters really are the most generous people on earth, Jessica sent a bunch of loot along with the quilt. Yes, that is a little quilted zipper bag there on the left. So cool! And I absolutely love, love, love the fat quarter of circus-themed fabric that was included. I can't wait to make something with it!

What great quilts! Nothing more satisfying than contributing something great to a swap and getting something equally awesome back.

Btw, I saw the Gees Bend exhibit about a year ago and I honestly have to say it's one of the most amazing art exhibits (and I've been to a TON) I've ever seen. It's amazing that those quilts were done without machines and from scraps and things that would've been otherwise discarded!

What a wonderful show! I am so glad you liked it. I LOVED MY QUILT!!! LOVED IT AND LOVE IT STILL. The colors are fabulous and it just works all the way around. Thanks again, you are a great swap partner!